Alone
Alone (アローン, Arōn) is chapter 33 of the ǝnígmǝ manga. Summary Having recalled what happened earlier with all his friends, Sumio wonders where they all went. In despair, he mopes at the possibility of no one being able to escape. Suddenly, from down the hallway, a Shadow sweeps its way towards Sumio. Running away from it, Sumio desparately pleas for it to get away. He then runs into a taller man standing in the middle of the hallway. Smoking a cigarette, Kijima looks down at him with a sinister smile and greets him. Before Sumio is able to identify him, Kijima suddenly puts on a friendly face and introduces himself, reminding him that he gave him warnings about being mischievous many times. Sumio asks Kijima why he's here and proceeds to tell him that it is dangerous where they are. Kijima relieves him, claiming the Shadows can't touch him. Meanwhile, he snatches Sumio's Dream Diary from behind. Peering at it, he recalls that this was what led Sumio to the seventh password. With his cigarette, he burns the Dream Diary to ashes. Alarmed at Kijima's action, Sumio kneels to scrape up the ashes of his Dream Diary from the floor, then recalls ǝnígmǝ having proclaimed that his Dream Diary will be destroyed. Standing among Sumio, Kijima reveals that he has been watching him and Shigeru the whole time with their Talents. He claims to have seen Aru having finally gotten a body that could move, the hospital he was in run by Matsurigi's family, Moto having disappeared from club activities, Hiina teasing her classmates and Sudō finally becoming conscious of himself. Seeing Kijima stand among him with a distorted face, Sumio comes to the realization that Kijima is ǝnígmǝ and asks him why he's doing this. Kijima repeats his promise that the two of them will talk about this after he escapes. Sumio then covers his ears as a loud noise radiates from Kijima. With Sumio's Dream Diary gone, Kijima attempts to persuade Sumio to forget about the seventh password and stay in his world, where he'll meet all his friends. He introduces Sumio to the world they are in as the Shadow Town, a place he brought them all to stay as Shadows. Lying on the floor around his Dream Diary's ashes, Sumio rejects Kijima's offer to stay and pleads to let himself, Shigeru and everyone else out. Recalling Shigeru having done something important in the past, Kijima offers to let Shigeru out alone. With a distorted face again, he proclaims that her existence is a special one that is more important than any other and promises to look after her for the rest of her life. Having brought himself together, Sumio firmly rejects his offer and promises to destroy Kijima's future and obtain the last password. With another sinister smile, Kijima confirms the decision he predicted Sumio would make and reveals the envelope for Password No. 7 in his hand. He offers to give the envelope to Sumio if he can chase him down in a game of tag, while the Shadows chase after Sumio. He proclaims Sumio's time limit for the challenge is 23 hours, the amount of time left until the end of the fifth e-test. Reminding Sumio that his friends may turn into Shadows completely before that time, Kijima encourages him to try his best. Sumio promises to force the password out of him, as well as the cure to stop the Shadow transformation, given there was a capsule that stopped Kurisu's. Amongst large clouds of black mist, Kijima disappears into the doorway back into the school, stating that this is serious and that he'll do his best to seal Sumio in. He proclaims that this is no longer a test, but the real thing. Before Sumio manages to ask him what he means, he opens the doorway to find himself falling down the hallway. He manages to grab a door knob to keep himself hanging. Realizing that Kijima had tilted the school on its side, Sumio wonders how he'll move forward from here. Elsewhere, lying on the ground and partially possessed by her Shadow, Shigeru weakly calls for Sumio. Characters in order of appearance #Sumio Haiba #Jirō Matsurigi (flashback) #Misaki Kamiya (flashback) #Aru Mizusawa (flashback) #Moto Hasekura (flashback) #Takemaru Sudō (flashback) #Hiina Kujōin (flashback) #Ryō Kurisu (flashback) #Shigeru Kurumiya (flashback) #Yūta Kijima #ǝnígmǝ (Kirio Imizuka, flashback) Navigation Category:Chapters